>>megyn: happen birthday, nanna, 97 years young today. she says the devil don't want me, the lord don't want me, so you people are stuck with me. >> if only i could tell nanna happy birthday. >>shepard: the news begins anew with mitt romney preparing for the first presidential debate on wednesday. the president is, too. he is not taking it lightly. the supreme court kicked off a new term and the legal fight over the new health care law may not be over. we have the details on that. a new study says secondhand smoke is killing tens of

thousands each year including hundreds of infants in this country. that is all ahead unless breaking news changes everything. this is "studio b." first from fox at 3:00 in new york city, intention preparations underway with less than 72 hours before the first presidential debate. both campaigns ready for a high stakes night that could be pivotal. polls show the race is neck and neck but president obama has open up leads in self key swing states. one is colorado. that is where the first presidential debate is on wednesday night. both have been trying to lower expectations thinking if voters do not expect too much whatever you get could be impressive. president obama is at a disadvantage in the expectations game. there a new abc news-washington post poll showing the majority of voters think he will win the debate. only 29 percent expect romney will be on top.

ed henry is in nevada this afternoon where the president is preparing for the debates. john roberts, first, though, with the other campaign. what is the romney camp up to? >>reporter: they are headed to denver with a big rally at wings over the rockies air and space museum. what we will see tonight is a shift in strategy. the governor's attempts at framing this as a referendum on president obama have not been working. he now is saying this is a choice for two very different futures for america. he is saying that his choice is one where a smaller government would have facility private enterprise to grow the economy. the other, his version of president obama's view is that government is still in control of everything. the challenge for governor romney and the debate on wednesday is going to be fully articulate his vision for america's future to the largest audience of his political

career. >> we need to give the american people the choice we are offering. that is what we are offering. we owe the country a very clear choice of a different future. we can have a dynamic growing economy that produces opportunity or we can have a stagnant opportunity that fosters dependency. >> romney campaign is looking for a solid performance, no knock outs which the governor has become famous for. he has been avoiding those since he tried to make the with governor perry. >> what is the word on the foreign policy message for romney? >> the governor has an op-ed in the "wall street journal" saying of president obama, by failing to maintain our new, president obama has heightened the instability. he does not understand that an american policy that lacks resolve can provoke aggression and encourage disorder.

he is making foreign policy an economic argument saying you have to have a strong economy do have a strong military. he could be able to slit a couple of lines about foreign policy into the debate on wednesday. >>shepard: thank you, john roberts. rebound is keeping a low profile today as he prepares for the debate on wednesday. he is holding mock debates near las vegas with a former democratic white house hopeful, john kerry, playing the role of governor romney. both sides seem to be trying to lower expectation for wednesday, even president obama himself yesterday acknowledged to supporters a rally today, that his debate skills could be rusty. >> folks in the media speculate on would will have the best zingers. or who will put the most points on the board.

governor romney is a good debater. i'm just okay. >>shepard: it is likely no coincidence that the president picked never -- nevada for preparations. g.o.p. is back in las vegas, and nevada could really be important, and, difficult, really, for president. it is at the heart of the foreclosure crisis. >>reporter: no doubt and the unemployment rate state-wide is worse than the national average. the president is trying to down play the expectations for the first debate by saying, i am just okay debater the he did well against hillary clinton in the democratic primaries in 2008. he did well against john mccain. obviously he won the whole thing. four years ago, though, and he is dealing with that challenge and could be rusty and the

challenge of the economy in some of the battleground states. he got 11,000 people at a rally in las vegas last night and tried to make the case that things are coming around. >> i want to promote a new economic patriotism. one that is rooted in the belief we grow the economy best when everyone has a shot. and the middle class is thriving. i won't pretend it will be easy to get there. it took us a bunch of years to get us in this mess. it will take us a few more to get us out. >>reporter: the place where the president is doing presentation is a microcosm of the state, lake las vegas, the boom and bust if you will, with celebrities with multimillion dollar homes but the resort area went bankrupt and some of the hotels went away and now they are coming back, housing surprising are starting to lift. not as quickly as people want to say but it is turning around.

>>shepard: is that resented? governor romney has an uphill climb? >>reporter: he does. you look at the real clear politics average of recent polls in this state. the president has a lead, a slim one, but 49 percent to 45 percent. this is one of the states where if mitt romney's economic argument, the choice election that, in fact, john roberts was talking about a moment ago, if it is going to work it will is to work in the states like nevada. right now, though, the 39 -- president has the edge. >>shepard: thank you. 36 daze until the election itself and as we have been reporting national polls show it is a tight race. the "washington post" and abc survey shows president obama leading 49 percent to 47 percent. when you look at some of the wing states that could decide this thing the president has gained some ground recently. the size of the lead varies but the average from the polls from

real clear politics finds him ahead in most of the key election battlegrounds including ohio, florida, virginia and iowa. we are bringing in a politics reporter for. >> real clear politics. the governor seems to understand and has said that he has some work to do here. it sounds like strategies are changing in an effort to turn the battleground state numbers toward him. >>guest: right. romney has been running a national campaign based on the economy, based on getting obama out of office but we have seen him when he is in ohio or virginia, focus on niche issues like energy. so he seems to be recognizing that this race is going to be determined by those few states. however, his campaign and republicans often tout the national polls that show a tightened race where as the obama campaign has always said

the race will be tight nationally but we are look specifically at the states such as virginia, ohio, florida colorado and those states to look at how the campaign is going. >>shepard: you listen carefully to their message and it sounds like the folks lean on defense and foreign policy and they have been going after the president and his team regarding the attack at the embassy. >>guest: absolutely. if you look at the new "washington post" poll, obama is leading on almost every issue. romney only leads on handling the deficit but the two are split on the economy. obama is leading on medicare, health care. people find his international policies doing a little bit better, as well. the romney campaign is trying to cut into the margins and what has been obama's strength, to bring that down ahead of the

debate on wednesday which will focus on domestic policy which is interesting that romney is going after foreign policy this week. >>shepard: i found it interesting, as well, but based on what has happened the last couple of weeks, i guess governor romney and his team think we have an opportunity here, why not seize it? >>guest: absolutely. we saw the op-ed today from romney. that's a point of weakness for obama at this point. so the romney campaign will go after that. foreign policy will be a big issue with only a little over a month to go. >>shepard: thank you, great to see you. >> administration folks are trying to figure out how the deadly attacks in benghazi occurred. a suicide bombing in afghanistan pushes the american casualty

count beyond a grim milestone. the latest from america's longest war is coming up on "studio b" next. want to try to crack it? yeah, that's the way to do it! now we need a little bit more... a little bit more vanilla?

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>>shepard: the president's top advisor defending the response to the attack on the consulate in libya that killed four americans. according to the white house, the senior advisor, the u.s. ambassador to the united nations, acting on the information she had when she initially called the attack "spontaneous." >> obviously you will know more two weeks after an event than a week after the event. as the ambassador rice, that was the information from the intelligence community, the same information provided to congress. we new have stipulated this is a terrorist attack, it came from the intelligence agencies. the investigation has continued. we obviously are making the information known. >>shepard: the chairman of the

house homeland security security committee is calling for archeries to resign over her initial assessment of the attack. the republican vice presidential candidate, paul ryan, says the white house response is part of a bigger problem. >> their response was slow. it was confused. it was inconsistent. they said it was a youtube video and a spontaneous mob. we know it was a planned terrorist attack. this was one tragic incident, that would be a tragedy. the problem is, it is part of a bigger picture of the fact that the obama foreign policy is unravelling before our eyes on tv. >>shepard: officials reportedly say the united states may have put too much faith in newly trained libyan security guards. catherine is live from washington, dc, with the story. what do we know of the libyan security guards? >>reporter: intelligence sources tell fox that the libyan security forces "melted away when the attack happened" and there is "confirmation the security for the consulate, some elements, were acting in concert

with the terrorists." a short time ago, as to the status of the consulate, the state department is sending all questions to the f.b.i. >> all of the officials having to do with the staws of the scene in benghazi, what it was, what it is, they are now the province of the f.b.i. as they go forward with this investigation. i will send you to them on any those questions. >>reporter: as we reported, 20 days of at murder of the four americans, the f.b.i. has yet to step foot in benghazi. in other words, we have a situation in eastern libya where the mission is part of a wild west and we do not have any firm control of that. >>shepard: a lot of people are weighing in on the timing of the administration's response to this. >>reporter: also in the briefing the spokesman for the state department saying secretary of state clinton is rejecting calls for the resignation of ambassador rice. the allegation is ambassador rice and others in the

administration cherry picked intelligence to fit the story like benghazi was a demonstration that spun out-of-control. the issue now is whether the nation's top intelligence officer, the director of national intelligence, or a d.n.i. concluded it was terrorism before the appearance of rice on september 16. >> you put a document like this in the public domain, although you may think it is a professional document, it has tremendous political impact. a very legitimate question, now, in the american political process to the dni, since they willingly entered this public dispute, when did you change your mind? >>reporter: if it was after the statement of susan rice there is no reason not to pinpoint that date. we have asked them to do so and we have yet to give them anything for the record. the second question is, why was it that the administration sent out execution an rice and not someone who you would describe

as an intelligence officials that is the white house counter terrorism advisor, the national security advisor, the director of national intelligence himself, or even the c.i.a. director. >>shepard: thank you, catherine. the united states supreme court started the new term today and the justices are ready for very high profile cases. cases that could include something most people thought was settled: the health care law. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. in what world do potatoes, bacon and cheese add up to 100 calories? your world. ♪ [ whispers ] real bacon... creamy cheese... 100 calories... [ chef ] ma'am [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

care law may notgal battle be settled after all. the supreme court started a new term today. the list of cases that the justices planned to hear, a signal they have on the door to two new challenges to president

obama's signature legislation. the court uphold most of that law if a ruling over the summer, including a requirement that folks buy health insurance or face fines. also in this term, court watchers say they expect the justices to take on several hot button topics including same-sex marriage, and a challenge to a key civil rights law, the voting rights act, requiring states with a history of discrimination to get approval from the feds before making any changes to election and voting rules. shannon covers the court for us and is live in washington. shannon, what is left to be settled here? >>guest: well, when it comes to the health care law you will remember back if june the court uphell the individual mandate and rules on other issues involving the expansion of medicaid but there are many other portions of the law the high court did not rule on including the employer mandate. that is one of the elements that the liberty university has been challenging from the going. today the court indicated it is

willing to take the issue seriously by giving the administration 30 days to respond to a request by liberty university for a rehearing on that issue. >>shepard: that is one thing. what are the odds it will make it before the court? >>guest: many court watchers who believe the university has a good shot at a second chance. >> they have good arguments, they are entitled to their day in court to have a decision rendered on the claims. whether those merits will prevail, that is certainly open to debate. >> it would be first sent to a lower court but it could be on track to get to the supreme court in a year. >>shepard: what would go before the court first? >>reporter: first, the justices next week tackle the use of race based admissions criteria by colleges after white plaintiffs said they were denied

administration mission to the university of texas because of race-based preferences given to minority appearly cans. it has been several years since the courts weighed in on this and there are new justices on on the bench. there could affect every college in america. >>shepard: now to senior judicial analyst, judge napolitano is here. i read through this and i was surprised to find that this is still an issue. it sounded like this was over. >>judge napolitano: it took a lot of us by surprise. i tell you where, there are 45 lawsuits still out there challenging the employer mandate, the obligation of an employer, to make available to his employees -- in the case of a college, students; in the case of a hospital, it is patients -- an array of procedures paid for by the health care provider that are against the values of the employer. in the case of, say be the

university of notre dame or the archdiocese of new york, two of the plaintiffs, it would be abortion and contraceptive. we all thought, those who watch the court, the 45 lawsuits would take their time, a trial judge would rule on them, they would make their way to an appellate court and maybe the supreme court would take it. what was surprising today, the supreme court accelerated that schedule and said to the 4th circuit court of appeals which already ruled on this issue, we want to you look at this again in light our decision last june. maybe we will take a look at it. the issue of who the -- whether the religious concerns can block the application of the statute is what the court will review probably next year. >>shepard: interesting. the other matter, the areas that had discrimination, a lost it, over the years, they cannot

change things without permission. >>judge napolitano: the voting rights act has been upheld by the supreme court several times of the the lower federal courts have been faithful to that. there is a new challenge now. they are challenging the core of it. you know about this because you were raised in a state subject to the voting rights act. certain states, usually in the south, that had a bad track record for the ability of minorities to vote, are subject to the oversight of the justice department. they want get out from under the oversight of the justice department. rather than forcing the state to get permission from the justice department, if there is something in the law that interferes with the rights of minorities to vote, these states want the minorities to have to challenge it like anyone would challenge a law. they don't want big brother in the justice department telling them what to do. the supreme court, surprisingly, has agreed to hear that. if the supreme court changes the law, that will be a radical change to remove the justice department from this equation.

if it upholds it we will probably not hear about it for 25 years. >>shepard: the top syrian officials accusing the united states of supporting terrorists. the comments from the united nations general assembly coming right up. and another attack in afghanistan, another one targeting u.s. troops. children are caught in the middle.

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>>shepard: this is "studio b" at the bottom of the hour and time for fox's top story. a senior official for the syrian regime that is murdering its own men and women and children accused the united states and other members of the united nations security council of supporting terrorism. of course, human rights groups have accused the syrian military of a long list of war crimes including the torture, killing, and bombing of innocent people. but in an address to the u.n. general assembly today, syria's foreign minister accused outsiders of fueling all the blood shed. >> we also wonder to what extent the statements made by equal car, saudi arabia, turkey, the united states, france and others to what extent do these statements can clearly insight and support terrorism in syria, to what extent are they in line with the international responsibilities of the

countries in combating terrorism? >>shepard: a spokesman for the syrian national council blast the speech there, called him a liar, representing the problem began da of the assad regime. the fox report's chief correspondent is working the united nations today. jonathan, according to the syrian foreign minister is not responsible for the civil war in his country. >>jonathan: to hear it from the syrian foreign minister this is a war that has nothing whatever to do with the desire for greater freedom or democracy, it is all about terror groups who are attacking the syrian government and their representatives. according to the syrian foreign minister, those groups are being aided, abetted, and encouraged by foreign countries, including the united states. listen. >> syria has lost thousands of marchers from among the military

ranks as a prize -- price for the effort to defend the syrian state and its citizens and the state of this global terrorist campaign. >>jonathan: from the syrian foreign minister the government and the security forces are entirely innocent and simply fighting a war of self-defense. >>shepard: as has seemed to be the case for a while, not a lot of ideas about how to move forward. >>jonathan: it is extraordinarily from listening to the leaders at the united nations, they have all said that syria is the most urgent problem facing the middle east. stopping the violence. stopping the bloodshed. but not one them have we heard any real concrete ideas. part of the problem here is not just getting unanimity at united nations. according to the representative for the u.n. peace envoy in

syria, one of the problems here is the splits in the opposition. by his count there are more than a dozen groups making up the opposition. they cannot agree on their aim or how to go about achieving the aims. that is part of the problem, just to sort out who is who among the opposition in syria. >>shepard: thank you, jonathan. we will bring in the manage director of the washington institute, the group that reports their mission is to advance a balanced understanding of america's interests in the middle east. michael is a former senior director at the national security council. michael, good to see you. so, everyone thinks it needs to end and like a broken record no one knows what to do about it. now the new wrinkle seems to be no one knows who is who in the opposition? >>guest: it is hardly a new wrinkle this is a story we have been talking about for many months, that the opposition is divided and this is an obstacle

to our ability to support them. there is some truth to this. of course, we would prefer that the opposition be united around a common agenda, a common leadership, because we are not just looking to topple assad but we are looking to ensure that what follows him is sort of a stable and not anti-american government to avoid what we have seen in egypt and libya and elsewhere. >>shepard: is there a sense that behind-the-scenes, maybe not in front of the cameras and in the newspapers, that someone is making some progress learning who the people are? >>guest: i hope so. this is a problem identified early on. if we not working on it, it suggests it is a pretext for inaction. to be clear, we should not exaggerate the extent to which there are extremists or terrorists involved. they are probably a small minority. we should not underestimate our own ability to shape the common agenda and the common structure of the syrian opposition.

also, at the end of the day, we need to be realistic: the opposition will be bound together by the opposition to assad. if he falls, this is going to fragment to some degree. >>shepard: i am guessing the goal among those would wanted to fall is to take him out at some point. is it your sense there is a plan for what to do in the event they are successful? >>guest: i am not sure the opposition has a plan for the reason we have identified here, there are lots of different elements in the opposition. >>shepard: if there is no more assad you have all the people running around wanting control. >>guest: that is what you work on now. we are not neutral to this process. you want to get in there and shape the agenda and start building relationships with people on both the political and security side so you are not left with just the vacuum of power and militias running around and people with agendas different from our own, and have them left in charge of the country.

>>shepard: thank you michael. three american soldiers and their translator are dead after a suicide attack today in afghanistan. officials say the explosion killed ten afghan civilians and hurt dozens of others including several children. the bomber drove a motorcycle into a convoy of nato and afghan forces. it happened in an area where the taliban claims responsibility. nato cut back on joint patrols because of the number of insider attacks where supposed afghan security forces have turned on their u.s. and nato partners, calling them green on blue attacks. it was a suspected insider attack or green on blue attack this weekend that brought that number of u.s. military deaths in afghanistan to 2,000. a grim milestone now in the 11-year war. are there any indications the insider attacks speed up the

withdrawal date? >>reporter: the u.n. secretary-general hinted so much in brussels in an interview with the guardian newspaper, and the top u.s. commander in afghanistan addressed this issue of insider attacks with cbs on "60 minutes" recently the i am mad at hell. it is reverberating across the united states. we are willing to sacrifice a lawsuit but we are not willing to be murdered for it. >>reporter: after the video went viral, the general ordered the joint patrols be stopped. they were stopped for 10 days. the nato head says they have resumed. >>shepard: this numbers game is worth a little more it would seem than to call attention to the fact that it is not getting better. i guess this 2,000 death does that. >>reporter: today it is

important to point out the attack in which 14 people were killed, three americans, it was an afghan dressed up in an afghan local police uniform that was the suicide bomber. it is almost impossible to protect the troops from these so-called insider attacks. this helmet video you are seeing right now shows a u.s. soldier recently under fire. he was shot but not killed. it was a more straightforward firefight. more straightforward than the attack that is causing most of the deaths right now. here is the general on "60 minutes" recently. >> the enemy recognizes this is a vulnerability in iraq, the signature weapon system was the i.e.d. and we had to adjust do that. here, the signature attack we are beginning to see is going to be the insider attack. >>reporter: unlike the roadside bombs there is no way to make a

protect the troops from this. all of this is based on a matter of trust. >>shepard: jennifer, thank you very much. >> the federal is -- i should say the feds, are spying more on people without a warrant. a big surprise on passengers on an american airlines flight, some of the seats were not attached to the floor. [ male announcer ] how do you trade?

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>>shepard: fox weather alert with door made watches in three states. janice dean is in the fox weather center. >> this is the same system that brought record breaking rainfall to texas and louisiana. now we have a tornado watch extending into alabama and georgia and middle tennessee and until 9:00 p.m. eastern, 8:00 local time, no tornado warning yet but we did have an early warning in south carolina.

that is along the warm front associated with this storm system. wide-spread area of severe threats including the florida panhandle and alabama and georgia and including the atlanta metro area throughout the afternoon and through the evening, the system will move north and eastward and with it the threat of severe weather moving across the ohio valley tomorrow. columbus, cincinnati, outside lexington, and charleston, you need to be on alert for the threat of damaging wind and hail and isolated tornadoes. we will keep you posted through "studio b" and the fox report. >>shepard: around here we have hurricanes in the southern hemisphere they have typhoons. incredible video that captures the power of a typhoon slamming into japan. keep an eye on the white car there. look at that. the wind did that. 80 wind moved it to another park

lot. the storm cause dozens of injuries and left folks without power. it moved to tokyo and tens of thousands were ordered evacuated including in a coastal city that last year's tsunami devastated. the government is reportedly spying on more people the last two years than in the entire previous decade. the huge spike in warrantless wiretaps comes out in documents at the american civiles liberties union obtains keeping tabs on e-mail and facebook accounts. steve? >>reporter: the aclu says this is done without warrants and without enough oversight or accountability. the surveillance in question records things about phone calls, not the actual content and the aclu questions the

necessity. >> this isn't about terrorism. these are regular law enforcement investigations and this is investigating people's communications. these are would they talk to, who they e-mail, who they engage in online connections with, friends, family, colleagues and loved ones. >>reporter: 2009 twine and 2011 the numbers of orders for surveillance on telephones went up 60 percent. during the same period ordered for surveillance of e-mail and network data increased 361 percent. in the past, the device had to be attached to the phone to get this data but now it can be done by a phone company's call routing equipment. the aclu has done it without a judge considering the merits of each case. the justice department fired back saying in every instance cited a federal judge authorized

this activity as new technologies are being use, and the use of orders signed by judge is essential for law enforcement to do their jobs, to carry out their duty. the aclu says the justice department failed to provide surveillance information required by law between 2000 and 2008 but since then has "cleaned up its act." >>shepard: american airlines reports a row of loose seats that forced a flight to land after take off on saturday. according to american airlines, the boston to miami flight was carrying 175 fell and it diverted to new york's john f. kennedy after three seats just came loose. the plane landed safely. no reports of anyone hurt. a spokesman says the airline is investigating. american airlines declared bankruptcy last year and is currently in a battle with the

pilot union, not to say the matters are connected. >> there is new word on how many die will die of smoking without actually smoking themselves. there are some crazy new numbers . questions?

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>>shepard: new numbers own how many americans will die from smoking without smoking themselves. according to the study from the university of california at san francisco, second-hand smoke kills more than 42,000 people in the united states each year. that includes some 900 infants. african americans are especially at risk, particularly african-american infants indicating that it all adds up

to $6.5 billion in lost productivity but many smokers do not buy it. a poll over the summer shows that one in four smokers say second-hand smoke is very harmful to adults, just one in four compared to 63 percent nonsmoker whose say it is very harmful. now we have the director of the decision of medical ethics at ny's medical center. these big numbers much >>guest: big numbers. the tragedy is people do not think clearly about this. if you are an infant, it does not take a lot of smoke to make you sick so second-hand smoke is bad, particularly for asthma, you are at high risk. a place with a lot of air pollution, imagine the los angeles smock and cigarette smoke, this is bad news. second-hand smoke is not good. >>shepard: you wonder what this leads to and you would think more regulations are on

the way >>guest: i would favor more of that. if you have gruesome pictures of what the cancer looks like, we could are tougher. people are not taking the risk or assuming the danger, they are bistanders. >>shepard: and another study that is not enough, another study where experts say the warning of second-hand television in essence, they say even when kids are not sitting there glued to the television, the television could be on in the background and that is causing problems, just a tv someone else is watching. the study is from the "journal of pediatrics," finds american kids are spoked to four hour as day of background division. >>guest: this show exempt. >>shepard: among poor families it is nearly six hours a day. according to the reporting in

this study it request affect we attention span and performance. >>guest: you leave the tv on in the background like radio, the kid stares at it and does not get exercise. it wines up depressing the intellectual function of the kids if they are watching soaps. clearly we have to educate parents if you want to spend time in the house and you don't want to be bored, engage the kids. you cannot just use the tv as the pacifier. >>shepard: the biggest reason for that is there is no interactive work with that television. >>guest: all one way, just back ground stuff. for some they turn it on and they are not watching it, it is noise that is distracting. but the kid is sitting there getting bored or getting numb watching whatever it is they have left on. not good for kids. >>shepard: i leave espn on a

lot and it will just play and i don't pay that much attention until someone says the words "giants" or "rebels." then i am calm up in it. >>guest: they are saying giant as lot in the losing sense today. but in general what you want to do is tell the kids to get east stuff and have the stuff on if the background but be interactive. do not keep them there five hours while you are doing dishes or errands and they are nodding off. >>shepard: doctor, never thought about that one. >> that's science for you. >>shepard: everything will be harmful soon. thank you, doctor. >> the man behind brian griffin will host the biggest event in all of hollywood, and now a new gig hosting the oscars. [ man ] ring ring... progresso

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>>shepard: family guy creator will host the new oscars, after hosting "saturday night live, and the oscar ceremony is late in february, and he released a statement on getting the beginning and said, one, i will do my utmost to live up to the high standards set forth by predecessors. two, i hope they don't find out i hosted the "charlie sheen roast." and then this, in "studio b," a guy in new mexico found himself in a difficult spot on saturday night. police say he was a bit drunk in the driveway with his foot stuck under his motorcycle and he made a call he may regret. the guy dialed 9-1-1 for help and the cops show up, got him lose and arrested him on suspicion of drunk driving. being in your own driveway is no defense for drunk driving. so it